Pepperdine Law Startup Clinic

Geoffrey H. Palmer Clinic for Entrepreneurship & the Law

The Startup Law Clinic at Pepperdine University School of Law is an initiative designed
to train law students to serve entrepreneurs of startups (primarily in the technology
sector) with formation, capitalization, corporate governance, user agreements, angel
investor financings and venture capital transactions. This initiative will provide
Pepperdine law students with valuable and practical experience in the entrepreneurial
and startup sector. The Clinic will provide guidance and expertise to entrepreneurs
in preparation for a startup's formation and initial capital investment as well as
in negotiating the legal and business terms of the investment.

The Clinic fills a need in the startup ecosystem for companies navigating the space
between formation, user acquisition, seed and angel investor financing, and the first
round of venture capital financing. In such cases, cash for legal services is scarce,
yet some of the most important decisions and biggest mistakes are made in these early
stages. The Clinic will focus on helping founders avoid common mistakes in formation
and early stage financings. Many of these mistakes become extremely costly as the
startup grows making subsequent financings more difficult and expensive. In the early
stages of a startup, the Clinic will specialize in representing the startups with
formation, capitalization, user agreements, corporate governance and angel investor
financings. As the startup matures, the Clinic and its law students can advise founders
in venture capital transactions in collaboration with the startup's primary legal
counsel.

One of the most potentially rewarding aspects of the Clinic for the law students will
be to experience the ups and downs of the life of a startup (from formation to acquisition)
and to serve as a trusted advisor and supporter through the entire process.

The Clinic will initially provide all legal services for free until the startup reaches
a significant financing round. Once the startup reaches a significant financing round,
the Clinic and the startups will mutually agree upon any deferred fees, if applicable,
and the involvement of the Clinic and the law students moving forward.

The Clinic will be staffed by specially trained second and third year students at
the School of Law under Professor Sam Wu's supervision. Professor Wu started his practice
in the Corporate and Securities Law Group of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich and Rosati in
Palo Alto. In 2010, Professor Wu co-founded Innovation Capital Law Group as the lead
partner of the Corporate and Securities Practice Group in Irvine and is also the author
of TechStartupLawyer.com.

The Clinic will also have an on-call network of experienced local practitioners for
referrals of specialized matters such as patent prosecution, tax and regulatory practice.
Additionally, at the right time, the Clinic can introduce the startups to law firms
that establish a trusted relationship with the Clinic.The vision for the Clinic is to become a community of emerging growth startups, law
students, sources of capital and legal and business advisors. The startups will be
vetted by Clinic staff and advisors to ensure that the startup will be a good fit
for the Clinic. Once in the Clinic, the startups will be advised by trained and qualified
law students to structure the companies in preparation for growth and capital infusion.
As the Clinic grows, our hope is that the Clinic will be a hub for sources of capital
to consider new investment opportunities and also to connect our startups with experienced
legal and business advisors.

The Startup Law Clinic is currently recruiting and vetting clients. If you are interested
in becoming a client of the Clinic please contact Professor Wu at sam.wu@pepperdine.edu or (310) 506-4991.

Pepperdine's School of Law provides a superior legal education that aligns personal values with areas of interest, such as dispute resolution, religion, public interest, criminal, and entertainment law.